A Picture in a Picture
by nilnil
Summary: Kenshin had expected her to retort, rebel, and whip out her bokken to hit him. Everytime they played tricks on one another, the other would retaliate even harder, it has been like this since they were young. But this time, Kaoru cried. AU KK


AN: Hi! It's been a long time since I wrote anything. Lol, I'm so old now. Umm, pardon my mistakes, because I don't have a beta… in any case, I tried to correct any mistakes but I think those who write would know, it's difficult edit your own writing. Haha.

Whatever it is, please enjoy. =D

Disclaimer: I do not own RK

**A Picture in a Picture **

A tear slid down her cheek.

Kaoru Kamiya was crying. Her picture. The single most beautiful, most wonderful picture of her idol in her possession was cut into four different pieces. Each cut was right through her favourite idol's face. The most ironic thing was a message pointing to the severed picture, which says, "The Pic is nice"

…_Damn you Himura Kenshin._

It was her favourite picture. The only picture that she treasures more than anything else in the world, now destroyed at the hands of one stupid insensitive jerk.

Using the back of her hand, she wiped away any tears that had leaked out from her eyes. _Stop crying already…._ But she couldn't help it.

The moment she saw what happened to the picture, her tears just fell.

It shocked him.

Kenshin had expected her to retort, rebel, and whip out her bokken to hit him. He expected her to scream at the top of her voice at him for destroying the picture of her favourite idol that she had so painstakingly kept it so well in the safety within her homework. It had been like that since they were babies. It used to be just simple pushing when one was trying to get onto his/her feet. Now it was coming up with different schemes to play tricks on one another, whether it was childish hair tugging, or quick and witty bantering, both of them continued to get on each other's nerves. It was so common that it had become a routine.

But this time, it was different. She had tears. It was the first time that she was crying just because of a trick that Kenshin had pulled. He had not expected her to cry at all… and that shocked him…

Scared him as well.

He did not mean for her to cry. Heck, he had thought it was just a joke where it would be shaken off as soon as it happened just like what happened in the past. Alas, he panicked and his defense mechanism kicked in, with his unwillingness to put his pride aside, resulting in him retaliating, "It's just a picture!"

Kaoru only seemed to cry harder, trying her best to keep her tears that refuse to listen to her in. Her face was getting redder… but not by the fact that she was embarrassed.

'_Kenshin Himura! Only an idiot would add salt to wound' _He berated himself, but that did not stop himself from saying, "How much is it? One dollar? Come on it's so easy to buy another picture. Why would you cry over it?"

Kaoru started biting her lips, shoulders shaking as she tried to control her emotions. But her tears kept falling and falling. She forced herself not to make any noise despite crying so hard. The silence was unnerving and Kenshin could not stand it. He reacted in the only way he knew: taunts.

"Such a baby…"

That was the last straw. Kaoru was officially pushed past her limit. Without a word, she stomped up to Kenshin in a quick action and raised her hand in preparation for a slap. As a reflex action, Kenshin closed his eyes and waited.

…

Nothing happened. The next moment when he opened his eyes, Kaoru was already gone. What was left was only the master piece he had made, with teardrops' stains on the same table.

The same tears that stained his heart with guilt.

The cold war started.

Never before had Kaoru ignored Kenshin outright.

Usually, when they had a 'cold war' it would not last longer than three hours, especially after Kenshin's constant taunting. His provokes are hard to avoid, and Kaoru never back down from them ever before.

_Well, this time it's different. _Plopped down onto a chair, he propped up head with his arms, thinking. He stared at the picture he destroyed. After Kaoru left it there, Kenshin could not help but to take the pieces but did not throw it away. He sighed.

Usually, Kaoru will pretend to ignore Kenshin's existence but fail miserably.

Usually, Kaoru would have already been fighting back Kenshin's previous joke, and get revenge. That was their game.

Usually, it takes less than a day to get the two of them back to their bantering manner.

It has already been a week.

Kaoru was still giving the silent treatment. During classes that they were together, from the side of his eyes, Kenshin could tell that she was angry, but that was on the surface. For someone like him, who knew Kaoru inside out since the beginning of time, he knew she was really depressed.

How he knew? From the uncharacteristic un-talkativeness, _quiet_ demeanor, to her absolute ignoring of him and the lack of hitting him with her trust Bokken.

Kenshin could barely stand it.

So what if the guy in the picture had taken up a lot of Kaoru's time? So what if Kaoru is always obsessed with this guy, leaving him sometimes abandoned. That did not entitle him to destroy something so precious to her… even though he was resentful for the fact that the guy in the picture he destroyed was the guy Kaoru likes. Hell, why should he be even envious with a guy who would not even match his own looks, and who did not realise the existent of Kaoru?

Why couldn't he just held his ego back and not be so insensitive. Maybe if he gotten the hint, he would actually apologize to Kaoru and not criticize even after she cried.

All in all he had felt guilty.

And nowadays… lonely.

Without Kaoru as a source of 'entertainment', his life became quite meaningless. There was a lack of … spark. Like something was missing from his life.

He realised, he missed her voice, when she talk back at him, her laughter as she sometimes though not frequently laugh at his witty comments, or even her painful hits from her Bokken. He would give anything to get her to talk to him again.

He missed her, and he wanted her back…

But it is probably too late.

Staring at the different pieces which he had cut, he realised there was only one thing left to do…

Thus, after about a few weeks of cold war, the cold war continues.

Kaoru was walking home from school alone, as she did ever since the cold war started. Until she heard a familiar voice calling out, "Stop."

Kaoru quicken her steps hoping to get away faster than he could get here but alas, god just made guys with longer legs.

She had the 'luxury' of having peace and quiet for a few weeks after the … incident. Her heart ached. The picture… it was not only the picture, it was the fact that Kenshin actually cut it up, knowing that she treasured that picture so much…

She was sick and tired of all their games. Sure it was fun, but recently even she played tricks that were pretty hurtful. Day after day, they play tricks on each other 24/7. She was really exhausted from this childish banter. They were young adults already, yet they still do not treat each other maturely.

Actually, the fact was, her heart had been too broken up to think about revenge.

Knowing that no matter what Kenshin would still catch up to her and probably cornered her. She prepared herself for the inevitable. Inevitable fight, quarrel, whatever. Kaoru sighed.

Kenshin caught up to her, and panting lightly he said awkwardly, "Hi."

Kaoru stood there, arms crossed over her chest as she stared at Kenshin unblinkingly.

Kenshin shifted uncomfortably, as he stuttered, "Well… I, that is… I… …"

Kaoru tapped her foot impatiently, thinking that if Kenshin has nothing to say, she would just leave.

Sensing her thoughts, Kenshin shoved gently something into Kaoru's face without anymore words. Kaoru raised an eyebrown at Kenshin as he looked away with his cheeks slightly tinted red.

Kaoru eyed Kenshin's red tinted face, wondering what was wrong with him and stared at a white piece of envelope. _Is this what I think it is? _She opened the envelope with a sense of urgency and when the contents was taken out, she realised that it was the picture of her idol, that had been once decapitated.

Kaoru's eyes widened, and stammered, "You fixed … my picture… why?"

Kenshin grunted in return, not knowing what to answer. The main reason why he wanted to fix the picture was something he had not rationalized … yet. All he knew was that, he was guilty, thus fixing up the picture would be the best thing, well the only thing that he could do to salvage this situation.

Kaoru continued to stare on, wanting to know the answer for this 'nice' action, and this sudden change in attitude. God knows that whenever they were playing tricks on one another, they never apologized or did something nice for each other. They only thought of revenge and how to top the other's taunts.

The whole world knows that Kenshin is in denial.

He knew that he was guilty because he had hurt Kaoru, whether intentional or not. He knew he had hurt Kaoru because he did not like the idol she liked. He knew he did not like the idol she likes is because he was jealous. And why he was jealous…

He couldn't figure out… … _as if…_his face went redder.

Suddenly Kenshin felt nervous, not knowing how to answer this question. Heart racing, he knew the reason for his denial. He did not want to say that he had found out that he liked her… a lot, probably from the time he had pulled her pigtails in kindergarten.

"Why Kenshin? You… we never had done something like this for each other… so why?"

"You did not retaliate this time. I had to do something…"

"Well, you could have just let it be." Kaoru caressed the picture. It was not patched up perfectly, but it was whole again…

"I couldn't." Kenshin simply said, and they're eyes met. Then Kaoru understood.

"Thank you." Kaoru said it in her most sincere tone. Kenshin ducked his head away and brushed it off, not liking this awkward situation.

"But honestly, must you destroy the picture in the first place? I think I surrender after this trick." Kaoru said lightly, trying lightening the situation.

Instead, Kenshin mumbled something and his whole face was flaming red.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't catch what you said…"

"I said …" Kenshin muttered.

"Umm come again?"

"I SAID! I WAS JEALOUS!" Kenshin burst out.

Stunned, Kaoru echoed in disbelief, "You were jealous?"

"YES! I admit! I am freaking jealous of that idol of yours. You were always going Ga-ga over a figure who did not even know you existed! Then you spend time on this guy who isn't that good looking anyways. Hell, the amount of time we spend killing each other is not as much as you used to. I wanted attention… and why are you laughing?"

Kaoru had tried to contain her laughter from the beginning of his speech but failed miserably, "You're so cute…"

"Well… thanks," Kenshin said miserably, feeling utterly embarrassed of himself.

But Kaoru did not tease him over that like she usually would, linking her arm with his, she told him, "let me tell you something, that day… I wasn't crying for my idol's torn up picture."

Kenshin blinked. "You weren't?"

Kaoru shook her head, "Nope, I was crying because of this…" she then took the fixed up picture, and started peeling her idol's face apart as if there was a top layer of sticker. Kenshin stared, bewildered and amazed at how the sticker stuck to another layer below. After peeling everything away, Kaoru set the new picture in Kenshin's hand.

Then, Kenshin smiled genuinely.

The picture was of a boy and a girl in their kindergarten uniforms. The boy pulling the girl's pigtails while the girl pulled at the boy's face, each having a blissful smile on their faces.

AN: hope you enjoyed this. =D


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